Moses Lake allows trailers in driveways

Councilmember

violated ordinance, asked for change

MOSES LAKE - The Moses Lake City Council voted to amend an ordinance allowing more flexibility of what can be parked in residential driveways Tuesday.

Councilmember Bill Ecret requested a variance after learning he was out of compliance with an ordinance specifying the types of vehicles parked in driveways, in front of garages.

In an interview after the meeting, Ecret said citizen Richard H. Beeson, a former councilmember candidate who lost during the primary, e-mailed him and city staff a photograph to inform him of the violation. The photograph showed Ecret's cargo trailer he uses for work parked in a driveway, in front of a garage.

He said Beeson regularly sends information on code violations for the city to act upon.

Ecret said city staff agreed he was violating the ordinance and he subsequently requested an amendment to the ordinance.

Ecret requested the ordinance be changed to allow anyone with an enclosed cargo trailer, with dimensions up to 6 feet wide by 12 feet long, to be parked on an approved surface in front of a garage or in a driveway.

During the meeting, Councilmember Richard Pearce said it seems most enclosed cargo trailers and small campers appear larger than the dimensions requested.

"I think 12 foot is awful small," Councilmember Jim Liebrecht said. "A lot of these individuals have four wheelers in them and I think 18 to 20 foot would probably be (better)."

Liebrecht asked if enforcement action was taken against Ecret.

City Manager Joe Gavinski said no action was taken.

"Well why not? He broke the law," Liebrecht said.

"There's been no complaint, so we didn't respond," Gavinski said. "We can't get to every place all at once. If the ordinance isn't amended, yes it will fall into the category with all other enforcements."

There aren't enough code enforcement officers to catch all violations, said Gavinski. They get prioritized by severity and complaints are responded to first.

"But the information I got, looked like there'd be special considerations, I've been told and people have called me on this type of deal," Liebrecht said.

Gavinski said there were no special considerations and the city was not aware of the violation until notified by Beeson and Ecret.

"The city is in touch with Beeson and follows up on all complaints he has," Community Development Director Gilbert Alvarado said.

He said there are several citizens in violation of the same ordinance as Ecret and none of them received a citation because staff was waiting for the result of the ordinance amendment.

Pearce moved to approve an amendment to the ordinance allowing a trailer no larger than 8 feet wide by 16 feet long to be parked in a residential parking lot.

Councilmember Brent Reese seconded the motion.

Council unanimously approved.

"When the city adopted this ordinance a ways back we said that there would probably be further amendments coming as we worked with this ordinance and saw how it fit in," Gavinski said.